5 boxing with a new Alienware

[ferretb]

I'm about to get a new computer and I'd like to be able to play 5 accounts at once on one rig. I'm fond of Alienware, and I wondered if any of you had suggestions on how to customize an Alienware rig in order to have decent performance. My computer before couldn't handle 5 accounts in Dalaran - I'd love to be able to solve for that. Thanks!

[Owltoid]

Why Alienware? I'm sure there are sites that charge much less for more power. Check out www.buyxg.com (http://www.buyxg.com). This is what I was able to get for about $1,500, including full assembly, shipping, and warranty:

i7 920
12GB DDR3/1600MHz RAM
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 Motherboard
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 1792MB Video Card
32GB RiData SSD (for WoW)
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive (for everything else)
Vista 64 w/ free upgrade to Windows 7 once release
1,000 Watt Power Supply
AZZA Solano 1000 Full-Tower Advance Cooling Case w/ Dual 230mm Fan + Extra 3 Fans
LG 22X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW

I may have forgotten some things, but basically for a little more than $1,500 you get a computer that handles 5 accounts in Dalaran and WG with ease. The only thing that isn't included is the monitor. I added on wireless keyboard, mouse, and headset which put the total around $1,650.

[zanthor]

Alienware is all about paying for the brand.

[Clone]

Yes I was once young and naive and bought an Alienware Pc. I wish I had known then what I know now. I could have got the same pc for half the price. I must say though that the pc itself was very well built and I had no problems with it. I did end up upgrading it 6 months down the line by myself though.

Im still paying for the original pc even though Ive changed the mobo, ram, processor and graphics cards. Take my advice and do some research into other pc building companys if you arent able to build yourself. You will save an awful lot of money, or get twice as much power for the same money.

[ferretb]

Fair enough. Then I want a good computer that can handle 5 boxing with ease in Dalaran+. I'm willing to spend a decent amount of $$$ to get it. Multi-boxing is just too fun. :)

[RdrckSmith]

Even if you've never built a PC before, if you feel brave enough to give it a try I would highly reccomend that route. For under $1000 you should be able to purchase all of the components you'd need for a rig with more than enough power to handle 5 accounts in Dalaran.

If you just don't want to go near trying to assemble yourself, Owltoid's reccomendation is great and a far better price than Alienware, or other "name" systems.

[ferretb]

What components should I be looking for piece by piece, then? It's been too long since I've built my own PC. I found that my upgrades to my current PC certainly helped with 5-boxing - but I wasn't anywhere need the sweet spot.

[Owltoid]

When I priced the components using Newegg, I found that www.buyxg.com (http://www.buyxg.com) didn't have any markup (or extremely small) on their systems... I was floored. Considering they assemble the thing for you and slap on a warranty I have made it my goal to recommend to anyone looking to purchase a computer. I love Newegg, too :)

[jak3676]

If you're shopping now - here's my recommendations

Intel Core i7 920. Nice archetecture, 4 cores and hyperthreading too. On-chip memory controller helps too.

12GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM. Brand doesn't really matter, but try to get CAS latency at 7 or lower if you can.

SSD - Solid state hard drive. Brand and model are very important here, depending what you want to do with it. If you want somethign for your OS as well as WoW, then make sure you get somethign that is optimised for random write speeds. All SSDs are optimised for sequential read and write (all that WoW really needs), but if you want do more than just WoW with it, then start reading forums. Anything from Intel is good, but spendy. OCZ Vertex drives are OK too along with anything that used an Indilinx memory controller. If you just want WoW performance you may be able to get away with a 32GB drive if you do some logical linking. With prices currently, there isn't much price difference between 32GB and 64GB, so I'd get at least a 64GB drive. But I'd recommend a 128GB drive if you want to put your OS and some other apps there too.

Video cards will somewhat depend on the monitor setup you want to use. If you want 4+ monitors on one PC, then snag an ATI 4850x2 - it comes with 4x DVI ports natively and 2GB ov on-board Video RAM. If you don't need to plug in that many monitors then check out any of the $200 video cards with at least 1GB of on-board video RAM. For ATI, 4870 (1GB version) or 4890 is good, 4870x2 if you're feeling rich. For nvidia, GTX 260, 275, 280, 285, are all good, 295 if you're feeling spendy. Crossfire/SLI don't really work all that well in WoW - you're better of spending more money on 1 card than you are to get to cheaper cards and put them in SLI/Crossfire.

As for monitors - I'm loving my Hanns-G 28" WUXGA (1920x1200), but anythign that has at least 1080p resolution is good for squeezing multiple windows onto 1 screen. If you are going for the 1 window per screen setup then go with whatever your budget and video cards can support. I think a popular option is to get 2 good sized monitors and put your "main" on one monitor by himself and then the other 4 can each have 1/4 of the 2nd monitor. Most good video cards can run 2 monitors just fine.

[suicidesspyder]

Man all i want to do is find a good gaming site which does payments lol i want computer now and cant afford to pay it all at once wouldnt mind payments tho. It would take me like 2 months to get the 3k i need and sadley i hate waiting i guess its the adhd in me. I like owltoids site i got my computer saved that i want but meh. Yea i know paying 400 dollers more for rdy by next day and overnight shipping but i want it like yesterday lol.

http://www.buyxg.com/cart/showcart.asp?url=%2Fsystem%2FIntel_Core_i7_Custom_ Builder%2F&ref=add

This is my shopping card ne advice or upgrades or downgrades let me know thanks. I got the 5 monitors for 700 dollers all so i told you i would be back. Laptop for vent and surfing and desktop for WOW WOW WOW can you say addicted. I only get to play 2 days a week now so i want to accomplish somthing like heroics and try and do them all each of those days.

[Owltoid]

3k?!? Are you 10 boxing or something?

[Owltoid]

The www.buyxg.com (http://www.buyxg.com) link for your system doesn't work (it just sends me to the shopping cart, not a summary of your order). Paste your summary so we can see your choices. If you're only 5-boxing, then anything over 2k is really overkill. I was able to get my system for about 1,500 and it runs 5 smooth in everything, including Dalaran and WG (with very short load times to boot).

[suicidesspyder]

*BASE_PRICE: [+799]
CAS: Apevia X-Cruiser 2 Mid-Tower Case w/ Side-Panel Window & MultiMeter Display (Silver Color)
CS_FAN: Default case fans
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
CD: (Special Price) LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: NONE
CABLE: None
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FA_HDD: None
FAN: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System (Extreme Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) [+65]
FLOPPY: NONE
HDD: Single Hard Drive (1.5TB (1.5TBx1) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+82])
HDD2: NONE
IEEE_CARD: NONE
KEYBOARD: Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard [+83]
MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
MODEM: NONE
MONITOR: NONE
MONITOR2: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio
MEMORY: 12GB (2GBx6) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Triple Channel Memory [+209] (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK: Killer Xeno Pro Gigabit High Speed Online Gaming PCI Network Interface Card [+130]
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 with Upgrade Coupon to Windows®7 Home Premium [+104] (64-bit Edition)
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
PRO_WIRING: None
POWERSUPPLY: 1,200 Watts Power Supplies [+297] (Thermaltake ToughPower 1,200 Watts Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready)
RUSH: RUSH!!! READY TO SHIP IN NEXT BUSINESS DAY [+109]
SERVICE: Standard Warranty: 1-Year Limited Warranty Plus Life-Time Technical Support
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers
TEMP: NONE
TVRC: None
USBHD: NONE
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 2GB 16X PCI Express [+279]
VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 2GB 16X PCI Express [+425]
VIDEO3: None
WNC: NONE
_PRICE: (+2582)

Sry didnt know the link was gay like that

[Owltoid]

Are you 10 boxing? Why the two video cards, just to use more monitors instead of doing a PiP?

I'd throw in a cheaper, small SSD if you're going with this type of system. Otherwise the hard drive will be your bottleneck.

Is there any reason for the expensive NIC?

That's a huge PS, but maybe you need it for the dual video cards.

Do your research on the case and make sure it's a good choice from a cooling standpoint. I'm very happy with my AZZA and with the amount of fans it's keeping things nice and cool (without the need for the water cooling on the CPU).

I think the upgrade to 1600MHZ RAM is very inexpensive, especially in comparison to your other choices.

[jak3676]

I'd drop the "killer NIC" personally and probably cut back on the PS as well. $300 for a PS seems like overkill. I'm also not a fan of liquid cooling - but that's just personal preference. I would look strongly at a SSD though. You can fit 5x WoWs on a 32GB, and probably still have room for another game too.

[Owltoid]

I'd drop the "killer NIC" personally and probably cut back on the PS as well. $300 for a PS seems like overkill. I'm also not a fan of liquid cooling - but that's just personal preference. I would look strongly at a SSD though. You can fit 5x WoWs on a 32GB, and probably still have room for another game too.

Just as a point of clarification, you don't need to install WoW 5 times when using an SSD. Do all they sym linking you want if desired different WTF folders (I personally don't, my system can handle all slaves at same settings as master), but only install the game once. On my 32GB SSD I still have the majority free for other games, if I choose.

If going through www.buyxg.com (http://www.buyxg.com) just make sure your first hard drive is NOT the SSD, and the second one is. I added in my comments a request they put the OS on the regular hard drive.

I'm still curious about the dual video cards... I'd like to know why you're choosing that expensive option.

[Marious]

Overkill for wow. It is not that graphically intensive so 2 video cards again is overkill, if you really want to go the route of 2 video cards for 4 monitors I say split the cost between 2 computers and you will probably end up getting much better results.

[Owltoid]

I'm not sure how 2 computers would be a better choice, but rather two less beefy video cards.

If 5 boxing I can't imagine two computers is going to be better results than an i7, enough RAM, an SSD, and a decent video card.

[suicidesspyder]

Yea i know it seems overkill but i have 5 monitors to hook up for the dual vid cards and one day i might decide to 10 box once i get more into it cause with work schedule i dont have much play time. So its all about me me me when i get play time i want to play not sit around looking for help lol. But yea i did it from your site owltoid just wondering if someone could goto that site and build what they think would be good for a 5 man computer and paste it on here so i could see the difference between the two. I tend to alwyas overkill stuff i guess its just my need to have everything top notch for the time. So once again thanx for the help just paste me like what you have owl and what anyone else thinks would be good. The more choices to look at the better dont want to base final off one choice been there done that regreted it.

[Owltoid]

(the machine I bought... take out the wireless keyboard, mouse, and headset to knock off 100 bucks)

*BASE_PRICE: [+799]
CAS: New! AZZA Solano 1000 Full-Tower Advance Cooling Case w/ Dual 230mm Fan + Extra 3 Fans 420 Watts [+59]
CS_FAN: Default case fans
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
CD: (Special Price)LG 22X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: NONE
CABLE: None
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FA_HDD: None
FREEBIE_CU: FREE! 4GB USB 2.0 Portable Flash Drive
FAN: Intel LGA1366 Certified CPU Fan & Heatsink
FLOPPY: NONE
HEADSET: Logitech Extreme PC Gaming Headset [+14]
HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
HDD2: 32 GB Ritek RiDATA 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk (Nearly Instant Data Access Technology) [+92]
IEEE_CARD: NONE
KEYBOARD: (Keyboard & Mouse Combo) Logitech Cordless Desktop Wave Keyboard & Mouse Combo [+73]
MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
MODEM: NONE
MONITOR: NONE
MONITOR2: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T SE Intel X58 Chipset CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio
MEMORY: 12GB (2GBx6) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+238] (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 with Upgrade Coupon to Windows(R)7 Home Premium [+104] (64-bit Edition)
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU [+19]
POWERSUPPLY: 1,000 Watts Power Supplies [+99] (Azza Gaming Active PFC Power Supply SLI/CrossFire Ready)
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: Standard Warranty: 1-Year Limited Warranty Plus Life-Time Technical Support
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers
TEMP: NONE
TVRC: None
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USBHD: NONE
VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 1792MB 16X PCI Express [+176]
VIDEO2: None
VIDEO3: None
WNC: NONE
_PRICE: (+1673)
_view_: detail
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coupon: SUPER (5% Discount) -$83.65
SUBTOTAL $1,589.35
Sales Tax (N/A) $0.00
Shipping: Fedex Ground $65.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAND TOTAL $1,654.35

[Xtremepayne]

I do use an Alienware, but its a laptop, which should be the only reason you should consider them. For a desktop system, I home built mine and here is its specs

EVGA 780i
Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4ghz
EVGA 8800GTS in SLI
4GB PC2-8500 Cruical Ballistic Tracer ram-running at 1066mhz
Creative Labs Xtremegamer soundcard
2 500GB Seagate Hard drives SATA
1 80GB Maxtor Hard drive IDE
Coolermaster 850 Real Power Pro(Plus 80) Power Supply
Antec 900 Gaming Case

This is my dual boxing system and the reason for the 3rd hard drive is due to running a 3rd account in Lotro. Lotro is very texture intensive and when running 2 directories off one hard drive it made for very sluggish video. Using this old drive I had fixed the problem.

I was able to put this together for under 2000 dollars in Dec 2007 and since that time it has served me well. For a unit from Alienware which when you pull the cover will have some maker like Asus you would pay twice what I paid and get the same thing I have. Really. I have a freind who bought a desktop system and that is what he found on the motherboard when he pulled the cover. Save yourself some dough and build your own. Plus there are many here if you run into issues who would be willing to offer advice.

[Moorea]

I know gateway isn't "cool" but for ~$1200 you get this beast:

i7-920 (http://syndication.intel.com/DistributeModule.aspx?ppc_cid=IIP_01944087101&cc=US&contentType=0), 64-bit Vista(and free W7 when out), NVIDIA GTX 260 graphics, 9GB DDR3 memory, 750GB hd

http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668284.php

And it even doesn't look that bad in real - I was about to build my own and this turned out to be barely more expensive and worth the hassle

[Barelan]

I confess - I just ordered alienware. - It is the laptop though.

My reason - the thing is one big heat sink, most of the other brands cram huge specs into a standard laptop case, and that concerns me - my current laptop runs 4 copies fine, but a 5 it overheats - every time!

I only play WoW so I can't comment on other games but WoW really isn't such a big resource hog, my main machine is only a core2 quad with a GTX260, but I can run 5 copies with decent graphics. The graphics card was an upgrade and really made a big difference, but the CPU's are barely taxed. I run 4GB and it never swaps (I left the swap file turned of by accident so I know this).

My conclusion is that most machines you can buy (unless it's a budget box) will be capable of running 5 WoWs as long as they have a decent graphics card.

[Meeo]

im on the alienware bandwagon personally... After 10+ years of building machines, alienware still has decent deals, especially the fact i can trade in my old junk for 100 to 300 discount on newer equipment if i choose so and they provided payments when i originally needed them serveral years ago before dell bought them out.

I would however not recommend buying any of there towers unless they were doing a special on them, becuase there is a huge different in savings when they do deals.

Not to start a war or anything, but i have priced out machines on Buyxg.com, falcon, ibuypower, cyberpowerpc and they are very comparable to what alienware provides. Alienware are for those who want to pay for the name, and i was on the same boat as this gentleman was, i didnt to make payments, and they provided that functionality with out much of a hassle.

So in a few words, Hope you like it, my next machine from them will be a laptop.

[Eggy]

My 2 cents about power supply, unless you plan on running 4x geforce 295's or similar setup I wouldnt push it past 700-750, theres no way your computer will need that much, I run a i7 920(OCed to 3.6 currently and staying there, had it at 4.2ghz but there is abseloutly no point in running that normaly) with a geforce295 on a 650 myself. And still on the same topic, I would recommend you do a bit of research on the supply and actualy buy a good one. Cheaper ones usualy got a larger margin of waste(not so sure how to explain this in english, but hope you catch my meaning).